January 2015

Now more than ever, patients are behaving like empowered healthcare consumers. Rising deductibles associated with the Affordable Care Act (up by 26%), for example, are causing patients to pay closer attention to their healthcare decisions. It’s no surprise, then, that research from Deloitte shows an increasing number of people that are going online to find information to help them make educated medical purchases.

Self-service has been around for generations, from the advent of personal shopping in grocery stores to the global presence of ATMs. But it was really in the last quarter century that self-service hit its stride, thanks to the rise of the Internet. Customers can solve their own problems or answer their own questions thanks to the ubiquity of this technology.

As published by Nielsen Mobile, “the typical U.S. mobile subscriber sends and receives more SMS text messages than telephone calls.” This may not come as a surprise. However, the fact that this has been the case since 2008 might. So why haven’t service oriented companies adopted this communication channel to deliver a more delightful experience for their customers? And why are you reading about this on a blog from a healthcare technology company?

Mobile payments are all the rage lately—just look at Apple Pay or Square. It’s an exciting development that’s changing the face of mobile commerce–as long as customers have an iPhone 6 or access to a card reader for smartphones.

But what if customers could pay without downloading an app? What if they could pay for things over text messaging?

The new year is a time for new possibilities: you can set goals as lofty as your heart desires. And when it comes to your customer service, you’re just as invested in doing things bigger and better this year. More problem solving? Heck yes. Omnichannel support? Competitors offering better, more efficient customer support?? Not a chance.

Here are five resolutions you can set for customer service in 2015, along with some helpful tips on implementing them.

As 2015 kicks off, it seems we have more ways than ever to communicate with customers–voice, text, chat, email, blogs, social…the list goes on and on.

Each of these channels can get complicated, but at their core, they’re about one person talking to another. It’s easy to lose track of that when you’re trying to optimize for SEO or keep things under 140 characters.

Sometimes we just need to set technology aside and get back to the basics of good communication. When it comes to communicating with customers, or even just with each other, we can all learn a little something from these masters.

In December 1992, 22-year-old Neil Papworth sent the first ever text message, appropriately saying “Merry Christmas.” Papworth and coworkers had originally conceived text messaging as an internal communication tool, but providers soon found a way to monetize texting with paid messaging plans.

Teens and young adults were the first to adopt the technology in the 1990s, enjoying the ability to communicate without their parents understanding. Since then, text messaging has exploded in popularity among all ages. Over 93% of millennials text, but so do 68% of baby boomers. Texting isn’t strictly a young man’s game.